They say in motorsport you’re only as good as your last result. If that were completely true, Mārtiņš Sesks wouldn’t be enjoying the hype that he still is.
But Rally Chile’s not what we all remember. The young Latvian has built up plenty of credit in the bank after his mesmerizing performances at Rally Poland and Rally Latvia last summer. Those drives racked up the interest that’s led to his cash-out: a half-season aboard an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1.
Last year was a self-confessed “fairytale”, but Sesks is wise enough to know that the bubble can burst very quickly. Earning a six (potentially seven) round season is not mission complete.
The target, he says, is to “multiply” that number and build on securing an even bigger program in 2026. This week’s Rally Sweden is his first chance to make that happen.
How 2024 changed everything
This time last year, Mārtiņš Sesks was far from a household rallying name. Those in the know had seen how well he’d done in the European Rally Championship the previous season, finishing second to Hayden Paddon.
But it’s fair to say that even with the knowledge he knew the Polish and Latvian stages better than anybody, there weren’t many who expected much from him on his Rally1 debut.
Sesks defied all expectations with his performances in Poland and Latvia last year
Nobody though could have expected what followed: stage wins, lovable energy and personality and what should have been a podium finish in Latvia but for final stage mechanical failure.
A bonus drive in Rally Chile came afterwards, but beforehand Sesks had no idea if he’d ever drive this car again. He had to nail it, and he absolutely hammered his point home.
“Yeah actually, that was the crazy thing about last year because it was our first opportunity to drive the car and immediately if we wanted to have some future in it we had to do well, and we had to do better than we, or someone else, thought,” Sesks tells DirtFish.
“It’s been a crazy time recovering from that, actually. Because it took I would say loads of physical and mental strength, I was kind of exhausted after last summer. But no, it was special. Very special.”
Sesks would have quietly backed himself to do a job, but looking back he admits even he didn’t expect it all to go so well.
“I think all of us in our team, we are proud about it,” he explains. “It exceeded even our best imaginations about how it would be. Especially for us being the first Latvians to drive a Rally1 car and all these things as well, [Latvia having a] WRC event last year for the first time and everything happened, it was actually like a fairytale last year.
“And I think we boosted, I would say, even the rallying field here in Latvia because now this year on our first national championship round you can see some new guys, some really young drivers and now it feels even more special that the work we have done, it’s not only about us, it’s about the rallying itself.
“It’s nice to see some young talents who basically can be the next Mārtiņš and Renārs [Francis, co-driver] who drive in WRC in the future.”
Sesks’ impact went far beyond his homeland though, with several people worldwide – including two of this author’s family members – instantly becoming fans of his.
“I think we managed that quite good as well because we were honest about things, and I think people kind of liked that and we made good fun about it,” Sesks believes.
“And I think that’s the goal again because still, OK, we have six rounds but then after Finland or hopefully after Saudi Arabia [if we get to do it], we don’t know what we’re going to do in ’26.
“So still we have to prove ourselves and still we have to make fun out of it because we don’t know what the future is going to bring. So we will be there to enjoy and do the best we can, and the approach has never changed since we started.”
A different pressure
Sesks is in a new situation this year, but has the same goal
As he acknowledges, Sesks is in a new situation this season. He doesn’t have the same comfort of most of his rivals with their full-season programs, but equally he doesn’t start a rally feeling like it’s his only shot.
If Sweden doesn’t go well for whatver reason, he still has five more chances at minimum to impress.
“Yeah I would say comparing to last year, I feel a bit more comfortable now,” Sesks admits.
“Because, yeah, last year at first we had two opportunities, now we have six, hopefully seven, which means that we have, I would say, more time to prove ourselves. And it’s not like it’s now or never, we still have… hopefully we will not use it, but we have some room for errors. Hopefully, we don’t need that room!
“But yeah, I would say I feel more comfortable, but it’s a bit more of a different and more comfortable approach that we can take our time on these rallies, which we don’t know that well. Even if we know some rallies from Junior WRC, we don’t know them with the Rally1 car.
“And it appeared even last year for our two rallies on the rallies we knew quite well, [we had to discover] what’s the speed we can achieve, and then going to a complete new rally [in Chile] where others have been driving for years.
As I like snow and I've driven some good rallies on snow, I really hope that we'll have some good paceMārtiņš Sesks
“So yeah, I would say this year probably we should be somewhere in the middle between between these two things, which is good because we have some knowledge on some rallies. It will be an exciting year for sure.”
There is still pressure on Sesks shoulders, but as he’s explained it’s a different kind. However what is new is the watching world expects a lot more from him now.
What should we expect?
Looking at Sweden specifically, it’s hard to guage what’s a fair target for Sesks. He has a very favorable road position of 10th for Thursday evening and Friday’s stages, but has only had one test day in a Rally1 car on snow.
“Yeah, we had a day,” he confirms. “Of course, it took some hours to work around the new tire, which was a new learning curve to adapt ourselves with the car because we’ve never driven in snow and then with the new tire.
“Obviously for me in the perfect world I would like to have a few more hours in the car on the pre-event test, but I think that’s also the thing about all sports is that every time you can do more and you can have more and it’s a never ending story about it.
The livery Sesks will rock for his six, potentially seven, round campaign
“But yeah, we had the test and we did a winter rally in Latvia [Rally Alūksne] which was fun, although we didn’t have much snow on there. So yeah, I’ve done two WRC Swedens but back in the time it was in Torsby. We enjoyed that time. I hope Umeå should be as fun as it was back there in Torsby.
“I’ve looked through some onboards and data from last year: it looks fast, it looks fun. As I like snow and I’ve driven some good rallies on snow, I really hope that we’ll have some good pace.”
But given he’s still fresh to running against the fastest drivers in the world, it’s hard for Sesks to know where his speed stacks up.
“It’s the funny thing,” he says. “Once you’ve never tried your pace in WRC1 category, you never know. Because sometimes you think ‘oh, you’re doing so well’, and then you look at the times and you understand that you have a long way to go to learn this.
“And then sometimes you drive just like you are, and it seems it’s not so bad. So yeah, it’s interesting.”
Sesks is in a unique situation among his peers though, as he has no kind of championship picture to concern himself with.
Sébastien Ogier is also on a part-time program but is there primarily to aid Toyota’s manufacturers’ championship campaign. Sesks is free of any pressure. Instead, he only hopes to punch in unforgettable performances and prove he deserves an even larger program.
But what’s the most important way to do that? Showing speed or getting a result?
Sesks knows he needs to impress as he looks to secure himself an even larger WRC program
“Well, they are kind of similar things because I think there is a thin line between being really fast and then being stable and consistent with your pace,” Sesks points out.
“Because I found this really in Latvia as well that yeah, in some stages I feel better, I can really push through and then on some I’m feeling maybe not so comfortable and then you immediately see that you’re losing in some places. But I think it comes with experience.
“I don’t know which is easier to learn. Is it easier to be fast or is it easier to learn to be stable and consistent? And I think that’s what I need to find out this year. But yeah, I think it’s better to start with stable and consistent results, knowing that maybe you can push a little more.
“And of course we are doing just half of the season, so the overall results is.. we are not achieving like anything in the long term this season. It’s rally by rally and we had to look on each rally like it’s a different game.
“So yeah, I think we’ll have a lot to learn and I’m really happy that we have already that many rallies. The best we can do this year is to multiply them for next year. As easy as that…,” he smiles.
